My point was that hams that value their license are maybe less inclined to engage in activities that might jeopardize it. I wasn’t implying that the bad actors were new hams. No stereotype intended.
Understood. But just to be clear, I did mean hams who go way back. Enforcement is a joke, as anyone following the W6WBJ case can attest. It took well over a decade of him operating under a revoked license he was allowed to keep using during appeals (from 2007, which I'm certain of, to 2020 or 2021, which I don't exactly recall) before he finally lost, and last I checked he or his buddies were still jamming the WARF net with vile recordings. I didn't see that his station was seized so he might still be operating. There's no jeopardy when there's no enforcement. (Honestly, the seizure of equipment ought to be something that would make hams of every ability less inclined to engage is stuff - nobody wants to forfeit thousands or tens of thousand of dollars worth of equipment if that were a real risk one takes when breaking the rules.)
Mike and I worked diligently with the FCC to try to get them to enforce the rules and remove the rule breakers.
In return, I had a nasty email or two from Laura about my own behavior - trying to get my electric co-op to fix their lines - noise which I believe was from the auto reporting meters - not arcing noise from a bad insulator. She threatened my license also.
Big business takes precedence over amateur radio - which was - up and until a couple of years ago - free.
The ARRL made a few dollars on the license exam and the books, but the renewal and the license was free.
Now we pay for the license too - I guess that is all a part of - if you want enforcement, you must pay for enforcement.
Once W6WBJ was removed - the WARFA people told MIKE - AA8KB - now our problem is solved and we don't need you anymore and since you are not colored - please go away! Since then I have not heard Mike on the air - I was told that he sometimes frequents a net in the early hours of the morning on 80 meters - since that is what his rhombic antenna was built to do.
( BREAK ) - Breaker - is a telegraphy term that is used to denote an EMERGENCY. It is in poor taste to use the term BREAK unless there is an actual emergency.